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Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson, a former CTU organizer, also weighed in on the budget Tuesday. “As far as the budget is concerned, as you know, we inherited a mess,” Johnson said. “And I made a vow that we’re not going to cut to the classroom.”
Chicago firefighters and paramedics had applied to hold a two-hour march near the United Center on day two of the convention to press their three-year-long demand for a new contract that would include adding 20 ambulances. They’ve now applied for a second permit to march back and forth along a two-block stretch of Madison Street that spans the Kennedy Expressway, with Chicago police officers furious with the mayor for twice rejecting an independent arbitrator’s ruling on police discipline hearings.
The new law prohibits minors from working more than 18 hours per school week and over 40 hours during weeks when school is out. The updated list of prohibited workplaces includes cannabis dispensaries, live adult entertainment businesses, gambling establishments and gun ranges.
The Cook County Assessor recently reappraised the value of the CTU’s building, estimating its fair market value at $19 million. However, the CTU is appealing this assessment and has hired a private appraiser who argues that the building’s value should be reduced by more than half, to $9.2 million.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is awarding $430 million to Illinois to curb greenhouse gas emissions by electrifying vehicles, accelerating clean energy workforce training and retrofitting buildings.
Illinois has the largest number of nuclear power reactors in operation in the country, with 11 nuclear reactors located at six different nuclear power plants. A recent Illinois law repealed a nuclear moratorium, which could clear the way for new nuclear plants in the form of small modular nuclear reactors, or SMRs.
A new study from the University of Illinois System says only about one-fourth of all public-school students are back to pre-pandemic performance levels in English language arts while even fewer have returned to pre-pandemic levels in math. Learning recovery has been especially slow at the high school level, where test scores have been declining.
A new report on housing affordability shows Illinois built the third-fewest new housing units per capita in 2023, only 134 new units per 100,000 people annually which drives up costs.
Danville faced the highest unemployment rate at 7.5 percent, followed closely by Decatur at 7.2 percent and Rockford at 6.7 percent. The Chicago area also came in substantially above the national average (4.3 percent) at 6.4 percent unemployment.
“Property taxes, CPS’ primary revenue source, constitute roughly half of its operating budget. Since 2012, the district has raised property taxes annually to the statutory limit to match cost of living increases, or 5 percent, whichever is less. Despite (Mayor Brandon) Johnson’s campaign pledge not to raise property taxes, his board continued the practice this year, recognizing the necessity of raising new revenue.”
The city’s move to shut the site down was motivated, in part, by its larger Summer Encampment Initiative, according to the Department of Family and Support Services. The program’s objective is to remove people from tent encampments and relocate them to official shelters.
“CPS is spending the last of its federal COVID relief funding at a time when costs associated with personnel and collective bargaining agreements are increasing. Intensifying the budgetary pressures are both the growing cost of operations and the shortfall in pension funding the District receives from the State, both of which factor into CPS’ ongoing struggle to fully cover its costs and achieve financial stability.”
“If residents had support besides one man sleeping outside, they’d be empowered and encouraged to do next steps to turn the block around,” neighbor Pamela Mondane said.
The state received federal approval of its proposed Healthcare Transformation 1115 Demonstration waiver, about which Gov. JB Pritzker said, “We are using it to direct Medicaid resources toward initiatives that address the root causes of health inequalities such as housing, food insecurity, unemployment, violence prevention, re-entry from prison settings, substance use treatment, and more.”
The South Suburban Mayors and Managers Association is responsible for the Southland Reactivation Act, a tax incentive program aiming to entice investors to develop unused municipally-owned lots. “We are trying to get them back on the tax rolls so they are contributing and lowering everyone else’s property tax bill,” a spokesperson said.
The Better Business Bureau’s Wise Giving Alliance states at least 65 percent of a nonprofit’s total expenses should be used for program activities. While the Wise Giving Alliance evaluates spending by charities, it stands to reason IEA’s spending of just 13 percent on representation – the purpose of a union – should be a cause for concern among members.
“For Chicago, the suit comes against a legal landscape shaped by industry-friendly legislation and after a succession of court failures.”
“In defending anti-slating legislation that purports to apply to the 2024 election after more than a dozen potential candidates had begun the slating process to appear on the 2024 general election ballot, the Illinois Attorney General and the Speaker of the House insisted that it was necessary to ensure that voters, not political insiders, decide which candidates appear on the general election ballot,” said Jeffrey Schwab, of the Liberty Justice Center.
Washington, D.C.-based Judicial Watch filed suit in March in Chicago federal court, claiming Illinois state and county election authorities have flouted federal law by all but refusing to properly audit the state’s roster of registered voters and then purge from those lists people who have died, moved away or otherwise have become ineligible to vote in Illinois.
In what’s surely a painful, if only temporary, blow to his political ambitions, polls in the five major swing states show Gov. J.B. Pritzker ranks last as a VP choice for Kamala Harris.
Ted joined the Ray Stevens Show to talk about how the constant out-migration from Illinois has cost the state billions in income tax revenue over the years, why people-winning states like Florida are swimming in cash despite not taxing income, why Illinois continues to be a Democratic state despite a lack of progress, and more.
“As Illinois Democrats welcome their party’s national convention next month, one of their crown jewels for environmental activism — an electric school bus factory — is fighting for its life.”
“We can’t handle any more illegal immigrants sent to Chicago right now,”Ald. Anthony Napolitano said. “The only highlight this is going to bring is at the national scale – that we can show everybody how sanctuary cit[ies are] a failure.”
It’s a technology that’s been eyed by energy producers in Illinois for years, with multiple previous proposals and one that’s expected to resurface soon. And it’s a technology that landowners and environmentalists view with concern at best and fear at worst.
So far, there have been 56 shootings on Chicago area expressways this year—a significant decrease from 109 in 2021, when expressway shootings reached an all-time high. Illinois State Police said license plate readers have helped significantly by helping identify a witness or person involved in a shooting 82 percent of the time this year – 100 percent of the time for fatal shootings.
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